Isabel Hardman

Justin Welby has given his valedictory speech in the House of Lords, his first public remarks since his resignation. It was quite a sad speech in which the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury didn’t appear to know quite what he wanted to say about his own departure. He started by joking that ‘if you want to make God laugh, make plans’, then added: ‘Well, on that basis, next year, I will be causing God more hilarity than anyone else for many years, because the plans for next year were very detailed and extensive.’ He told peers: The reality is that there comes a time if you are technically leading a particular institution or area of responsibility, where the shame of what has gone wrong, whether one is personally responsible or not, must require a head to roll.

The debate on assisted dying, which culminated in a victory for those in favour, hasn't been long enough – we knew that from the start – but it has been a very good one. There have been some very powerful arguments on both sides. There has also been a division between those who think that voting for the legislation at this stage is merely a qualified agreement to let it receive further scrutiny, and those who see it as an endorsement, both of the principle and of the detail.  A number of MPs who spoke in favour, including David Davis and Liz Saville-Roberts, nonetheless raised concerns with the drafting, with the latter saying she would vote against the bill at later stages if it did not receive the length of debate and scrutiny that it still deserved.

Normally when MPs criticise the uncertainty around the government’s relationship with another country, they are referring to the constant chopping and changing around how to engage with China, not Israel. But where the UK stands on both countries is in flux at the moment, and today’s Foreign Office Questions in the Commons didn’t help much either. Priti Patel, who is now the shadow foreign secretary, used China as her main line of attack at topical questions, claiming that the current iteration of relations ‘appears to be all give and no take’.

Angela Rayner was so keen to get out of the traps with her criticism of the last Conservative government at today’s deputy prime minister’s questions that she almost forgot to welcome her new sparring partner. Alex Burghart is not yet a household name: in fact, he isn’t even Rayner’s direct counterpart, as Kemi Badenoch hasn’t yet named a deputy. He had a reasonable session, and even made a stab at doing something no-one else has yet managed, which is to define ‘Starmerism’. Rayner enjoyed herself, as ever, while Rachel Reeves, sitting next to her on the government benches, had the most uncomfortable session.

Will there be more resignations following the departure of Justin Welby as Archbishop of Canterbury? The Church is, as on everything else, split on the issue, with some bishops saying that there needs to be wider accountability, and the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell saying that no more resignations are necessary. Given part of the criticism of the Makin report that triggered Welby’s departure was that he did not ensure that others performed their responsibilities around trying to stop Smyth, it would be odd for there not to be some wider ramifications.  The report repeatedly refers to Church officers knowing of the abuse that Smyth was still perpetrating, but not reporting it to the police.

Kemi Badenoch didn’t have the best start at today’s Prime Minister’s Questions: she asked a question that had apparently already been answered, allowing Keir Starmer to mock her early on. But the Prime Minister ultimately had the tougher session. That repeated question first came from Lib Dem Christine Jardine at the very start of the session. She reported GPs and charities worrying that the rise in employers’ national insurance contributions meant they would not be able to keep offering patients the service they deserved. Starmer started replying that ‘because of the tough decisions we took’, before he was interrupted by theatrical groans from opposition MPs. He then continued: We have put forward a Budget with an extra £25.